Trade, foreign policy, diplomacy and health

Menu

8. International Health Regulations and Epidemic Control

Johan Giesecke

Strengthening the role of the IHR

New operational directions

Achieving agreement on a revised IHR

IHR and national politics

As mentioned, several international agreements exist on urgent public health hazards that threaten to spread from one country to another. Sharing of experience between these agencies would enable a less successful international organisation to learn from the work and experience of more successful ones. A more formalised co-operation between all agencies with a task to handle urgent international public health events could be considered, and a first step would be to arrange a meeting of them all: something that has never been tried.

Returning to the IHR proper, what more has to be changed to make it a better tool for achieving the final global public good of reduced epidemics? This question can be answered by considering: